Vulcanization, or curing, is a process where elastomers, natural and/or synthetic, are mixed with various materials which will cause the elastomer to undergo crosslinking upon application of heat. These materials are conventionally compounded with the elastomer to help improve the elastomer's cured physical properties, e.g., tensile strength and temperature sensitivity. Vulcanization and the resulting improved properties may be obtained by reacting the raw elastomer with sulfur in the presence of other cure activators. Fatty acids, i.e., oleic and stearic, have been commonly used as activators in sulfur vulcanization of diene rubbers in the presence of zinc oxide and an accelerator. During the early stages of vulcanization, the zinc carboxylate (the reaction product of zinc oxide and fatty acid) reacts with the accelerator to form a complex. A nucleophilic attack by the complex on the ring of orthorhombic sulfur results in the formation of a zinc perthiomercaptide complex. This zinc perthiomercaptide complex is believed to be the sulfurating agent responsible for the crosslinking of the elastomer's chains. The role of the fatty acid, i.e., oleic or stearic, is believed to increase the solubility of zinc oxide and subsequent reactivity of the zinc perthiomercaptide complex. Stearic acid is commonly used for vulcanization, however, the stearic acid suffers from the disadvantage of a high bloom rate, consequently causing some loss of adhesion properties. A disadvantage of oleic and stearic acid is that they are significant contributors to the rising cost of production of elastomers. Therefore, there exists a need for a cheaper and abundant material which can be used as a substitute for oleic or stearic acid with concomitant improvement in adhesion properties of the rubber.